Even Death Has a Heart
by Lost O'Fallon Girl
Summary: {Team Captain of the Caerphilly Catapults playing for Beater 1! Round 13 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Challenge: Freestyle—Write whatever you want. Personal Challenge: Continuation of Round 7's Beater 2 Challenge Entry: "A Grimm Message Leaves One Broken Heart."}


**Disclaimer**: I do not own that which belongs to J. K. Rowling

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Even Death Has a Heart

by: Wanda

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**{Team Captain of the Caerphilly Catapults playing for Beater 1! Round 13 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Challenge: Freestyle—Write whatever you want. Personal Challenge: Continuation of Round 7's Beater 2 Challenge Entry: "A Grimm Message Leaves One Broken Heart"}**

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"Neville…" Luna sighed as she watched him as he lived his life, peaking in on him occasionally. The first five years were heart wrenching as he mourned over her loss. However, everything changed when he became close friends with Hermione, who was now teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"If you keep watching him, all you will do is break your own heart." Spoke a voice from behind her.

"I thought you were taking your chances and being reborn…" Luna spoke with her butterfly soft voice.

"I was going to go, but I wanted to make sure you were going to take the job seriously," said the voice as he looked over her shoulder.

"Why doesn't it hurt, if it's supposed to break my heart to watch him move on?" Luna asked thoughtfully.

"We are beyond those things, but your heart still ached when he was focused on mourning you, were you not?"

"But why is that?" Luna asked softly.

"Even Death has a heart," he said softly. "We do what the job asks of us, but it doesn't mean we do not feel for those we left behind. How is your father handling your loss compared to your lover?"

"He…hasn't been able to let it go, he keeps holding on to me like I would somehow miraculously return to him." Luna spoke softly, as she sighed.

"Perhaps you should pay him a visit. You can visit him in his dreams, if you stay by his side when he falls asleep." He patted her on the back. "Come, let's go….visit him. Perhaps if we do this, he can finally move on."

"What if he dies because we visited him during his sleep, I am Death after all." Luna tilted her head as she turned to face him. "You look different, since the last time I saw you."

He laughed, "Just because you're Death doesn't mean you automatically kill people by being in their presence. Let's go, who knows maybe this was all he needed."

"I thought it was my fatal flaw, wherever I go, death would spread like wildfire and pixie dust."

"Pixie dust?" He asked as he shook his head.

"It's something my mother used to say." Luna shrugged, "So what else can I do, besides leading lost souls to their place in the afterlife?"

"I really did leave you in the Dark, I'm sorry for that. You can actually live normally, by taking on a different appearance and working and keeping your own flat, once you developed enough income."

"I thought all you did was spy on people all day—it never occurred to me you may live an ordinary life, and be Death when you were called." Luna placed her arms on her hips when she looked to him in a fury-like no one has ever seen. Her hair crackled with static as her eyes hid sparks behind them. "I would have loved a forewarning—it was a terrifying experience to appear in the middle of a road with a car coming towards me—all I could do was scream."

He laughed, "I'm sorry. It's been over a thousand years—I forgot how much a newbie Death doesn't know."

"A thousand years? So no one you knew when you were alive is still living?" Luna inquired.

"No…which is why I was so excited—the prospect of a new life has finally arrived." He said softly, "grab ahold of my hand, and we will visit your father."

Luna smiled as she placed her thin hand in his, "Your hands are warmer than I remembered."

"It's because we share the same coldness, unlike the rest of the world that touches us, who can be called fire-beings compared to us, we are like ice to them." He said as they phased from the world beyond into the newly remodeled Cottage.

"Wow—it looks so different since the last time—I was here." Luna stated softly, as she looked to him. "Are you sure my father lives here?"

"That I am sure, look..." he pointed to the upstairs window.

"He looks sickly thin—has he been eating?" Luna asked, as they phased through the front door of the house, and walked up the spiral staircase and entered the master bed chambers.

"I think he's devoted his days to studying the skies, since you left this plane of existence, looking for answers in the stars." He gripped her hand as they walked towards her father.

"My Luna, why did you have to die…I miss you. I heard you visited Neville, but you never came to see me. I've been waiting for my day, Luna. I miss you, and I wonder so much about you. Are you taking care of your mother? Or are you eternally separated from her, even after death? So many questions…my dear Luna. I wish you were here." Mr. Lovegood smiled grimly as he walked over to his bed, and blew out the candle that was lit.

"Hurry—place your hand on his head before he falls asleep!" He spoke urgently, as he grabbed Luna's hand and placed it over her father's head.

When Luna entered her father's dream, she had expected to enter a dream where he was chasing the elusive Crumple-horned Snorkack, or some other illustrious creature he fondly spoke of during her childhood. Most people had insulted her and her father for their extracurricular studies of unusual creatures, most people assume they have made up. But instead she entered a nightmare.

"Dad!" Luna shouted as she was walking down the leery hallway, that reminded her of the Department of Mysteries.

"Luna-Belle, what are you doing here?" Her dad spoke gravely.

"I'm here because you asked me to be here, what is this a nightmare?"

"It's not like anyone's nightmare—I have been able to recall." Her father spoke softly. "But in each door, is a memory, a terrible memory. This door here, is the memory of your mother's failed experiment that lead to her death. The across from this one is when the Death Eaters stole you from me, and made me turn in Harry Potter. The next door…is when Harry Potter came with the news of your accident overseas…they are all horrible memories…I don't even want to see what are in the other doors. I stopped looking…"

"Let's create a new door, dad. A door where you can be happy knowing that your Luna-belle and Anna-belle are doing okay in the afterlife." Luna spoke softly.

"Did you ever discover the Crumple-horned Snorkack?" Her father asked as he held onto his daughter's hand.

"No—it was elusive until my demise. I'm not even sure if it exists." Luna said softly, as she led her father down the hallway until they reached a golden door.

"It does exist! I've seen one, a long time ago—when I was still a teenager." Her father grabbed the knob of the golden door, and when it opened they ended up in a field of flowers, with pixies, fairies and what Luna imagined was the elusive Crumple-horned Snorkack her father always spoke of so fondly.

"Is that it?" Luna asked softly, as she continued to hold on to her father's hand.

"Yes! That's exactly what I saw…when I was a teenager." Her father smiled as they walked around in the meadow. "It's so nice here—but where is Anna-belle, I thought she would be here…"

"I am here, darling," spoke a melodious voice from behind them.

"Mom…" Luna lost her voice, as she saw the women, with long blond hair, and matching blue eyes.

"I'm so glad you finally found your heart, my darling." The woman smiled as she hugged her family. "I was there all along, waiting for you."

Tears were streaming down her father's face, "My love—our darling girl…she died."

"I know, and she's here now…with us—although, I heard she now has an important job to do for the world. You will see our darling girl again. Won't he, Luna-Belle?"

"Yes mom," Luna spoke softly as she felt herself being torn from the dream, "I'm sorry dad, mom—I have to go. Duty calls…someone needs my help."

"We will be fine, darling girl. Don't worry, Luna-belle. I'll take care of your father while he dreams."

"Goodbye—mom…dad." Luna phased out of the dream, as she clutched her heart.

"I'm so glad I got you out of that dream, it looked like you might get trapped inside of it," spoke the Former Death.

"My heart aches…I haven't seen my mother since I was 9, and she was just as beautiful as I remembered in his dream."

"Duty calls, you have to deliver a soul to the other side—it's unfortunate, but it's one of your former friends. He was killed during a raid on a Death Eater lair, there are also several Death Eaters that were killed in that battle, but I will handle them.

"Who—who died?" Luna asked softly.

"I'm not sure, but he was a classmate of yours, if I reviewed your history correctly." Spoke the Former Death with a grim smile. "Let's go." He held out his hand for Luna to grab, and she gently held on as they phased out of the Lovegood Cottage and into a dimly lit warehouse.

"Oh no—Harry?" Luna gasped when she saw him curled up, and crying hard against his friend's chest.

"Ron—why…why did you jump in front of that spell…you shouldn't have done that, what is your fiancé going to say to me…when she hears you died…saving my life…"

"Oi! Harry….I'm right…here." Ron said to his friend as he kicked his leg through him.

"That won't work, Ron." Luna spoke softly from behind him.

"Whoa!" Ron turned around to face Luna quickly. "How come you can see me?"

"Because I'm Death, I'm here to take you to the other side," Luna spoke softly.

"But I recognize your voice," Ron spoke as he pulled her hood down. "Luna…I thought you died…"

Luna sighed, "I did die, and I'm Death now. It's my job to take you to the other side."

"Only you would somehow acquire a job after you died—well, you and Hermione." Ron said as he released a small laugh. "But what about Harry, what about my fiancé—can't I chose to be a ghost?"

"No—ghosts are made up of memories of unrequited dreams of your former self—not exactly you, but the memories of you that are trying to make things right. Come on, follow me. It will be less painful for you, if you simply accept it—like ripping off a bandage."

Ron nodded as he looked back to Harry before following Luna into the Afterlife. "If you can somehow get a message to them, will you remind them that I loved them?"

"I don't know if I can, but if I see them struggling—I will try to make amends for you, Ron."

"Thanks, Luna—I guess you were never loony, after all." Ron said as he patted her on the back, as a door constructed of light appeared before him. "So I just go through this…"

"That's about it…I'm not exactly sure what you will find on the other side, but it's much better than here." Luna smiled as she watched Ron open the door, and disappear behind it.

"Wasn't as hard as you thought, was it?" Spoke the Former Death from behind her. "Those Death Eaters were trying to escape me—it was horrendous. But they knew the results of their misdeeds and tried to flee from Hades."

"So there is a Hades?" Luna asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"Yes, I will have to train you on where the bad people go, the next time one of these idiots dies. I'm sorry—I left you in the dark. I forgot how much there was you needed to know."

"It's okay, it's a new world for me to get used to, with new rules. I imagine I would have learned eventually—even if you were born to this new world."

"I couldn't leave—being Former Death, makes me responsible for you. So I must make sure you are trained up, before I leave."

"Oh—that makes sense…I wish you had been there for my first…" Luna sighed as she remembered screaming when a car phased through her body.

"I'll be here for as long as you need me." He spoke softly as he patted her back.

"Hopefully, it won't be too long…so you can go into a new life—I imagine after a thousand years of helping others cross, you would want to live a heart-filled one."

"Don't worry about that—I will leave, when you're ready for me to leave."

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Author's Note: I know, it's not "A Hidden Prince," but I hope you liked it anyhow. Please leave a little something in the little box!

Lost O'Fallon Girl

Prompts: Nightmare; "Even death has a heart." - Markus Zusak, The Book Thief; Dialogue: "Let it go."; Middle of the road, Flaw


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